Time With Our Big Boy

With each passing moment time winds down on us being a family of three and the Little Jedi being an only child. So we are trying to just enjoy and make the most of each moment we have with just our big boy. After daddy got home from work last night we went swimming then to to get some ice-cream. 

This was actually a first for the Little Jedi as we have never taken him to get ice-cream before. 

After sampling a few different brightly neon colored flavors he chose the one he wanted. 

He ended up choosing a neon blue-blueraspberry sherbet which I think he liked more for the color than the flavor because he kept stealing bites of my rainbow sherbet for himself. 

His face ended up as a big blue mess and he loved every single bite!

Daddy trying to steal a bite!

40 Weeks!

Today is the Rebel Princess' estimated due date, so we are fully full term today and just waiting on her to decide to make her grand entrance!

Monday we went to what will hopefully be our last appointment with the midwives (well while pregnant that is, I will still see them for a few weeks postpartum). 

The Little Jedi has been very lovey and hands on with me here the last week or so and decided that at this appointment he was going to be the "Dr"! He hopped up on the table with me and used each tool as they were finishing with it. He "listened" to my heartbeat and "checked" my blood pressure. 

Then he used the fetoscope and listened to baby sisters heartbeat and "help" the midwife listen to it as well. It was seriously one of the sweetest things I've seen him do (and he does a lot of sweet things). 

I can't wait to see how amazing of a big brother he is going to be once she is born.

So now it's just the waiting game. 

Everything is ready at home for her arrival…I think. I decorated our living room area ready for the party (aka what will be her birthday!), have gifts wrapped up for the big brother to be, and gifts he chose (and a special one he made) for baby sister. We even have one for our amazing supportive daddy!

Over the weekend I finally got around to ordering our birth kit and picked up  on Monday, it has everything we need baring a true emergency (in which case we will have 6 other adults here with cell phones who can call 911 and the hospital is less than a 5 minute drive away). 

The pool has been opened and disinfected and is ready to be (fully) inflated/filled once labor starts. I got out the big blue tarp we have and folded it down to a more decent size then covered it with a clean sheet to help protect the floor from any possible leaks from the pool or otherwise lol.

I have all the baby towels, swaddles, and newborn sized diapers washed, folded and ready to go!

So for now, we are just patiently waiting. I'm enjoying the time with my big boy and all the snuggles he has been giving me. Being anxious for her arrival is making time go by slowly but I know that it's going to be just a blink of an eye before we are a family of 4 not just 3 and I will miss the time alone with my sweet boy!

Walk It Out

After false labor for several hours this past Wednesday and a couple more hours of false labor on Thursday nothing has been going on. 

While her guess due date is still not till next week this weekend we were hoping that out of convenience of dada having the whole weekend off and it giving us more time to bond and adjust before family shows up from out of state, that she would arrive- yesterday haha! 

That obviously did not happen. 

So today we went for a long hike up Mount Talbort just down the road from us, hoping that the activity would promote the start of labor. Unfortunately I experienced zero contractions while we were on our hike up or down, not even a mild cramp! 

The hike was beautiful though! 

The Little Jedi had so much fun exploring everything and collecting rocks and sticks, it made for a great day.

So, we have just come to the conclusion that she will wait till mid week and decide to make her appearance then when it's not convenient for us haha! 

Birth Prep: Tiny Thank You

I had been hunting for a small "thank you" gift to give to my midwives after baby is born.

I thought about decorating coffee mugs and putting some nice tea in them, making bath salts and some sort of relaxation scrub, other small treats like homemade caramels (bought by me though)-caramel apples-etc. All those ended up being a little more costly when all is said and done but I knew I would find something other than a card. Then one day on Instagram I saw a post that Mom's Best Network had put together for "teacher appreciation" day. The second I saw it I loved it and knew it just fit perfectly as a "thanks for helping me through my pregnancy and birth", it was cheap and easy to do in just a couple hours. 

Here is the example from Mom's Best Network.

And here is my end result! 

The Little Jedi helped me select three different succulents. 

I was unable to find any ceramic pots small enough to comfortably hold the succulents so I gently removed the plants from the pots that they came in, cleaned them, spray painted the plastic pots solid white, and allowed them to dry. 

Then I found and used all recyclable items to decorate the pots. 

Pink cardboard from an old doughnut box, ribbon from packaging that was sent to me from vendors I ordered things from, a drink straw, felt bows from old craft projects. 

Then I printed out the "thank you" tags (for free) from Mom's Best Network and put it all together! 

I love how the turned out, they look homemade and just so cute!

I really hope that they enjoy them as a small little memento, I'm sure they will, I know I would.

Summer Time!

The weather finally started to heat up around here so we are experiencing our first summer in Portland! Mornings are pretty icky looking, as usual, but by afternoon the sun is out, it's nice and warm, and you can't just stay inside! The last few weekends the family spent time a large majority of time just relaxing and having a blast at the pool!
Days are long, popsicles are their own food group, and grilling out is a must!
The sun doesn't set till 9 or later so that means we have plenty of time to play outside in the evenings. And sometimes you gotta say "screw it" and venture outside at 11 at night and go down the slide a few times to burn off some of that extra energy!
This is the Little Jedi's third summer, but second living in the sun/water.
I have been taking him to the pool most every day or at least every other day.
We both enjoy it and he is dead tired and beyond ready for a nap by the time we get back to the house. I had been looking for some sort of floaty type thing to put him in so I could better keep hands on him in the water…but I couldn't find any sort of seated floater ANYWHERE! I finally found one pair of water wings and got those figuring if they didn't work for him I would just return them and order something different online.
After a few unsure moments in the water with the wings on he was already on his way to mastering the doggy paddle! He even pushes mine/dadas hands away from him so he can swim independent! My little guy is just getting so big so fast.

These are just some of the photos from the last few weekends hanging by the pool that I love!

Dinosaur Discovery-OMSI

Our family adventure took us to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) in down town Portland area. They have a dinosaur exhibit set up right now so when we found out about it we knew we had to take the Little Jedi to check it out.
It was going to be one of those things that either made him poop his pants with excitement or total fear.
But we were fairly confident that he would go crazy over it and love it.
And we were right!

When we walked in he saw the poster advertising the exhibit and pointed wildly saying "mommy, mommy, roar-roar!" Before you get to the actual exhibit there are a couple random animatronic dinosaurs right out front of it, and he seemed a little shocked by them at first but then he got a glimpse inside the main hall and took off running!

He had so much fun checking each dinosaur out, pointing at it, talking with daddy about them, growling at them. 

We walked through the exhibit at least 5 times before doing anything else, and even if that's all we had done for the day he would be been more than happy and we would have called it a success!

After finally getting away from the dinosaur exhibit we took him upstairs to see what else OMSI had to offer. The whole museum seems to be hands-on learning based which is awesome because all humans learn best by interacting. We walked through the biology area making our way towards the small space science center they have amongst other life sciences (water, wind, earth minerals, etc). Each thing was able to hold his interest for at least a short time and the important thing is he had fun. 

After exploring in there, and having a random toddler melt down, we moved onto the actual children's section of the museum. What a cool place! 

One To Go.

About one month till her estimated arrival that is.

Give or, take a few days or possibly a week.

Who really knows.

It's pretty crazy that we're about to hit 37 weeks pregnant.

If she were born tonight she would still be considered "early term", only once you reach 39 and 40 weeks are you considered "full term". 41-42 weeks is considered "late" or "post term".

So despite what many pregnant mothers say and think when they reach 37 weeks, nope you're not "full term" till you hit 39 weeks. 

At 36/37 weeks I'm pretty ready for her to make her arrival, kicks, pushes, and rolls are becoming more painful as she is a strong little girl! 

My hip is still giving me pain, my SPD is also very painful but thankfully I was able to find a chiropractor who works with pregnant women and has lots of experience helping them with relief of SPD, so I was able to get in and see her and it really greatly helped!

Up to having an adjustment for the SPD walking more than a few feet ended up causing mild low contractions, and had been doing so for several weeks. After the adjustment I'm moving a little easier and not experiencing as many contractions when walking. But I'm feeling rather useless and helpless with how quickly I become tired and need to rest again. So yeah, I am ready for those things to be over with and hopefully be able to walk normal without pain very soon!

Yesterday I had a home visit with the midwife team, so they knew where we lived, how to get here, and about how long it takes them to arrive from their houses. 

It has already been discussed that they all (midwife team, doula, and photographer) want me to call them the SECOND I think that I am going into labor. 

Because of how fast my labor was with the Little Jedi, 3.5 hours from first contraction to holding him (even with it being augmented by Pitocin) they all are under the impression that labor this time around will happen quickly as well and don't want to miss her actual arrival. 

They are all now grouped in my phone under "BIRTH TEAM" so Daniel can easily call or group text them if I am unable to do so, but I should probably write the numbers down and stick it to the fridge to be safe since I have a toddler who loves to drain the battery on my phone and then misplace it.
The birthing birth pool was dropped off to us this weekend and we will be inflating it likely this weekend to clean it, let it air out, and just find the proper space for it as it is apparently very big! 

My sweet Little Jedi has been so helpful.
He's always been helpful but it seems like he is more so the last couple weeks. He loves helping to vacuum, he helps me clean up his toys, will put his dirty clothes in the hamper, and his shoes back by the door. I'm not sure how many other toddlers willingly do those things but I'm sure impressed and thankful that he does!
His new thing is to sit on my lap facing me and pull both our shirts up then bump bellies with me.
I don't think that he is at the age where he comprehends exactly what is going on and what all is about to change in his little world, even though tee talk to him about baby sister often, but I know without a doubt that he is going to be a fantastic big brother and just love his baby sister.
As the days come to a close of us being a family of three I am just trying to absorb and enjoy my one n one time with him as much as possible. Daddy will still be able to put lots of focus on him but it's going to be more difficult for me to figure out how to balance that for the first few months because (breastfeeding) newborns are so dependent on mom, and that makes me sad.
There will always be room for him to come and cuddle up with me though! And I am really hoping that I will be able to get little sister on a good nap schedule so he and I can have at least a hour each day for just the two of us to hang out! 

Blanket: Loveleethree